Browsing by Department "Psychology"

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The 8th annual computational and systems neuroscience (Cosyne) meeting
(Neural Systems and Circuits, 2011-04-20) Histed, Mark H.; Pillow, Jonathan W.
The 8th annual Computational and Systems Neuroscience meeting (Cosyne) was held February 24-27, 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah (abstracts are freely available online: http://www.cosyne.org/c/index.php?title=Cosyne2011_Program webcite). Cosyne brings together experimental and theoretical approaches to systems neuroscience, with the goal of understanding neurons, neural assemblies, and the perceptual, cognitive and behavioral functions they mediate. The range of questions available to systems and computational neuroscience has grown substantially in recent years, with both theoretical and experimental approaches driven by the increasing availability of data about neural circuits and systems. The Cosyne meeting has reflected this growth, nearly doubling in size since the first meeting in 2004, to a new record of nearly 600 attendees this year. It remains single-track, which allows discussions of presentations to drive scientific interaction between attendees with diverse backgrounds. Poster sessions take place each evening, which provide a forum for intense scientific conversations that frequently spill out into more informal settings late at night. The meeting is followed by two days of workshops, held at the Snowbird ski resort, which feature more specialized talks and interactive discussions on a wide collection of topics, this year ranging from consciousness and compressed sensing to dynamics, learning, and perception.
A Comparison of Stress Appraisals: Intervention Affordance Manipulations When Teaching Stress Can Be Enhancing and the Growth Mindset to College Freshmen at the University of Texas at Austin
(2021-05) Rank, Abbey Lane
In this experiment, we were able to prove that an affordance manipulation of the Stress Can Be Enhancing and Growth Mindset intervention information can significantly alter students' self-reported appraisal of the benefits of stress symptoms several weeks after the original presentation of information. This study was conducted at the University of Texas at Austin with the online Psychology 301 course over the duration of a semester.
A computational modeling approach to understanding the psychological and neural mechanisms underlying directional reasoning about ambiguous events
(2016-05) Flagan, Taru Maria; Beer, Jennifer S., 1974-; Eastwick, Paul W.; Gosling, Samuel D.; Schnyer, David M.
People often view the ambiguities of their social world through a subjective, rather than objective lens. For example, people may construe ambiguous social events in ways that are consistent with their current moods or with the goals they wish to achieve (e.g., Blanchette & Richards, 2010; Pauker, Rule, & Ambady, 2010). Although both mood and motivation direct reasoning about ambiguity, little is known about whether similar mechanisms account for the effects of mood or motivation. Furthermore, similar neural profiles have been associated with mood-congruent ambiguity resolution and motivated reasoning (e.g., Bhanji & Beer, 2012; Hughes & Beer, 2013), but the extent to which these regions support the same underlying processes has not been explored. A deep understanding of the underlying mechanisms has been difficult to assess because previous research has utilized self-report and reaction time measures to explore the effects of mood and motivation on ambiguity (e.g., Butler & Mathews, 1983; Ditto et al., 1998). People have little introspective access to the cognitive processes that lead to their decisions (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977), and reaction time analyses cannot disentangle underlying mechanisms. Therefore a deeper understanding requires alternative approaches. Drift-diffusion modeling (DDM) makes it possible to independently estimate parameters related to two mechanisms theorized to be involved ambiguity construal: expectations and preferential evidence accumulation. This dissertation describes five studies that utilize DDM to examine two overarching research questions: (I) What role do expectations and preferential evidence accumulation play in the influence of mood and motivation on the construal of ambiguity (Studies 1a, 1b, 3, 4) and (II) Are these processes supported by neural regions known to be involved in the effects of mood and motivation on the construal of ambiguity (Studies 2, 4)? The findings support a predicted role for expectations in mood-congruent and motivated construals of ambiguity. In addition, VMPFC supported motivated expectations that contribute to ambiguity construal. The role of preferential evidence accumulation, on the other hand, was less robust. Findings contribute to our understanding of mood-congruent and motivated reasoning about ambiguity and suggest fruitful approaches for future work exploring directed reasoning about ambiguous events.
A critical study of the Thurstone technique of social attitude measurement
(1933) Gentry, Marie Elizabeth Faddis; Not available
A factor analysis of some measures of silent reading ability
(1935) Franklin, Jesse Edward, 1897-; Not available
A longitudinal study of depression, PTSD, and anxiety symptoms in first responders
(2019-09-05) Feldman, Avtalya Rose; Carlson, Caryn L.
First responders witness traumatic events at rates unmatched by nearly any other profession, and research has subsequently found that they exhibit elevated rates of psychopathology. Factors predicting the development of this psychopathology, however, remain largely unknown. This study longitudinally examines predictors of PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms in first responders. Participants included 135 emergency medical technicians and paramedics. Multiple linear regressions were used to model predictors of PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptomatology at baseline, as well as changes from baseline to 3-month follow-up. Baseline levels of social support, sleep, emotional stability, and perceived stress were examined as potential predictors. Results revealed that at baseline a) higher depression symptoms were predicted by a model that included greater sleep dysfunction, lower social support, and higher perceived stress; b) PTSD symptoms were also predicted by a model that included greater sleep dysfunction, lower social support, and higher perceived stress; and c) anxiety symptoms were predicted by a model that included greater sleep dysfunction, lower social support, higher perceived stress, as well as lower emotional stability. At 3-month follow-up a) increases in depression symptoms, b) increases in anxiety symptoms, and c) increases in PTSD symptoms were each predicted by worse sleep and lower social support at baseline. In particular, the sleep subscale of disturbed sleep and the social support subscale of appraisal appeared to be driving these effects. These results highlight the importance of social support and sleep hygiene in protecting against increases in psychopathology symptoms in first responders. Although these factors have established relationships to psychopathology in the general population, their potential to serve as risk or protective factors in first responders has been largely unexplored. Future studies should examine whether interventions targeting sleep disturbances and encouraging deeper social connections can be utilized to protect against symptoms of distress in first responders.
A multi-method investigation of the acquisition and treatment of pathological fear
(2017-07-28) Lancaster, Cynthia Luethcke; Telch, Michael Joseph; Monfils, Marie; Smits, Jasper; Wolitzky-Taylor, Kate; Hixon, John G
Abstract: Over the course of their lifetime, about 25% of the U.S. population will meet criteria for one or more of the anxiety-related disorders, all of which are characterized by pathological fear responding. Researchers have made significant strides in improving treatment efficacy through the development of cognitive-behavioral models for understanding the acquisition and treatment of pathological fear. Although cognitive-behavioral treatments produce marked reductions in pathological fear on average, a subgroup of patients do not respond to treatment. In an effort to improve the prevention and treatment of pathological fear, this dissertation synthesizes data from a series of studies aimed to (a) improve our understanding of factors that contribute to the development of pathological fear in a real-world setting (Study 1), (b) examine factors that influence response to exposure therapy, a technique used across gold-standard treatments pathological fear (Study 2), and (c) investigate novel strategies that could be added to exposure therapy to further improve treatment response (Study 3). Specifically, Study 1 demonstrates the contribution of cognitive appraisal (i.e., threat perception) to the onset of pathological fear in response to stressors encountered in a real-world, high-stress environment (warzone deployment). Study 2 is a meta-analysis exploring the influence of unnecessary protective actions, or safety behaviors (SBs), on outcomes of exposure therapy. Data demonstrate that removing SBs during exposure therapy improves treatment outcomes, whereas adding SBs during exposure therapy produces inferior outcomes under certain conditions, such as when treating specific phobia symptoms. Finally, Study 3 is a randomized clinical trial investigating the use of two behavioral strategies, alone and in combination, to enhance exposure therapy outcomes: (1) a brief pre-exposure fear memory reactivation trial (PE-FMR) and (2) deepened extinction. Results suggest that neither PE-FMR nor deepened extinction improve outcomes at post-treatment or one-week follow-up. However, PE-FMR augmentation produced more rapid fear reduction during treatment, and equivalent outcomes even when the duration of exposure therapy (tailored to speed of fear reduction) was shorted by 21% on average. Together, these lines of research contribute to our understanding of cognitive and behavioral influences on the development and treatment of pathological fear.
A randomized controlled investigation of a compassion-based intervention for shame
(2023-06-22) Foulser, Anna Alban; Telch, Michael Joseph; Carlson, Caryn L; Hixon, John G; Swann, William B
Shame is a painful negative emotion involving negative evaluation of the self. There has been significant debate as to whether shame is private or public in nature. Shame consists of both internally-sourced shame, which involves negative evaluation of oneself as inadequate or flawed, and externally-sourced shame, which involves the perception of negative evaluation by others. Self-compassion, which includes self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness, has emerged as a promising intervention for reducing shame. Given that shame has an internally sourced component, it is unsurprising that one of the most effective interventions for shame is to change patients’ self-view by increasing self-compassion. However, externally-sourced shame, which results from one’s perception of negative evaluation of the self by others, may not be alleviated by self-compassion, which focuses on one’s self-view. In this dissertation, we examined the impact of a novel intervention for internally-sourced and externally-sourced shame using self-compassion and compassion from others, singularly and in combination. While internally-sourced shame decreased from pre-intervention to follow-up, there was no difference in change in trait shame across the four conditions. We also tested the impact of our intervention on real-time state shame. While self-compassion led to decreased levels of shame at post-intervention, this effect did not persist at follow-up, and compassion from others had no impact on changes in state shame at either time point. Taken together, our findings suggest that repeated shame induction leads to decreases in shame over time, and also provides support for self-compassion as an intervention for shame.
A role for the medial preoptic area in neuroendocrine modulation of sex differences in reward
(2022-08-12) Martz, Julia R.; Dominguez, Juan M.; Gore, Andrea C; Delville, Yvon; Serafine, Katherine M
The medial preoptic area (mPOA), located in the rostral hypothalamus, is an important regulator of motivated behaviors in rats. While its role in naturally rewarding behaviors, such as maternal care and sexual behavior, is well established, its role in drug response is just beginning to be explored. As a major site of neuroendocrine integration with direct connections to the mesolimbic dopamine system, it is not surprising that the mPOA is implicated in the modulation of sex differences in reward responses. Prior work has demonstrated that activation of the mPOA in response to sexual and parental reward differs between males and females, but whether sex differences are present in medial preoptic responses to drugs of abuse is unknown. Here, a role for the mPOA in the regulation of neuroendocrine-induced sex differences in neural and behavioral responses to cocaine is uncovered. Furthermore, while it is known that the mPOA influences the mesolimbic dopamine system through efferent connections with the ventral tegmental area (VTA), whether there are sex differences in the extent and profile of these projections remains unclear. The use of an iontophoretically injected tract-tracer, in conjunction with immunohistochemical techniques, revealed sex differences in mPOA efferents to the VTA. Specifically, projections from the central mPOA to the VTA contain more estrogen receptors and fewer androgen receptors in females, compared to males. Taken together, this work identifies the mPOA as a modulator of neuroendocrine-induced sex differences in downstream reward processing.
A study of changes in orientation resulting from changed intra-organic motivation in learning
(1937) Brown, Wade Lynn, 1906-; Not available
A study of persistent errors in animal learning
(1936) Olsen, Albert Martin; Not available
A window onto the psychology of everyday life : assessing students’ daily behaviors using smartphone sensing methods
(2016-12) Harari, Gabriella Marilyn; Gosling, Sam; Pennebaker, James W; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M; Hixon, John G.; Mehl, Matthias R
The purpose of my dissertation is to assess the viability of using smartphone-sensing methods for behavioral data collection in psychological research, and reveal the patterns of social behavior that characterize students’ everyday lives. In Chapter 1, I provide an overview of smartphone sensing methods and discuss the current opportunities for their use in psychological research. In Chapter 2, I describe the two datasets that are used in this dissertation. In Chapter 3, I examine the viability of using smartphone sensing methods for psychological research by assessing participants’ motivations to self-track, their participation preferences, and their compliance rates in using a smartphone sensing application. The results show that students were interested in using self-tracking tools, and were motivated to self-track to maintain productive lifestyles, monitor their well-being, and increase their social life on campus. The results also suggest that students’ compliance in using a self-tracking app was highest when incentives matched students’ motivations to participate. In Chapter 4, I examine the psychometric properties of smartphone-based social behaviors in the context of students’ affiliation behaviors (i.e., ambient conversation, conversation frequency, co-presence with others) and interaction behaviors (i.e., incoming and outgoing calls and text messages, unique and repeated contacts) over time. The results provide estimates of the base rates, interindividual variability, and temporal stability of students’ social behaviors across different time frames (i.e., daily, weekly, times of the day, days of the week). In Chapter 5, I discuss practical considerations for researchers interested in using smartphone sensing for behavioral data collection, and discuss current challenges of the method. Taken together, the results from these studies provide important insights into the behaviors that make up everyday student life and establish the viability of using sensing methods to capture behaviors in psychological research.
Absolute vs. relative assessments in the detection of covariation
(2010-05) Laux, Jeffrey Peter; Markman, Arthur B.; Maddox, William T.; Love, Bradley C.; Legare, Cristine H.; Goedert, Kelly M.
Previous research has shown that causal attributions can be made from patterns of covariation (Cheng, 1997). While the study of how humans learn contingencies goes back decades (e.g., Ward & Jenkins, 1965), cue interaction effects, involving covariations with two or more cues, have taken on particular importance (e.g., Shanks, 1985), due to their rich potential for theoretical insights. One such effect is causal discounting (Goedert & Spellman, 2005): People believe a cue is less contingent if they learned about it in the presence of a more contingent cue. Using a new method for investigating covariation detection, the steamed-trial technique (Allen et al., 2008), Art Markman, Kelly Goedert and I (Laux et al., 2010) have established that differences in bias underlie causal discounting. We argued that this implies discounting is an effect of a process employed to make causal judgments after learning has occurred. Analyses of how different theories account for discounting, especially simulations of associative models, establishes that this is not necessarily correct; several learning models can reproduce our data. However, model and data explorations show that the key feature of those data is that they track relative, not absolute, magnitudes. My dissertation extends this work establishing the plausibility of a comparative judgment process as the locus of causal discounting. I replicate the finding that responding tracks relative magnitudes. By conducting experiments that parametrically manipulate the contingency of the alternative cue (and thereby the relative contingency of the cues), I show that causal discounting is due to responding to contingencies as a linear function of their relative magnitude. I further verify that discounting manifests identically in response to contingencies presented via summary tables. Because summary tables do not afford the series of experiences necessary to build an association, this enhances the credibility of the theory that discounting is due to a shared process employed subsequent to learning—namely, a judgment process. These investigations reveal that discounting is not a cue interaction effect at all, but rather is a manifestation of a fundamental aspect of the systems that subserve covariation detection.
Abstract: Exercise for Mental Health: Current Perspectives, Clinical Practice Implications, and Future Directions
(2021) Carl, Emily
With traces dating back to antiquity, exercise for mental health is not a new practice. However, in recent decades, empirical research has proliferated on exercise and its effect on mood, a number of mental health disorders, and the mechanisms that may explain these effects. In this article, we begin by reviewing the history of this area. Next, we offer an overview of cross-sectional and longitudinal research regarding short- and long-term correlates of exercise on mental health, evidence for a number of putative mechanisms, and results from clinical trials for mental health disorders. Finally, we conclude with suggested directions for future research and recommendations for clinicians who wish to add exercise prescription to their practice.
Achievement relevant personality : relations with the Big Five and validation of an efficient instrument
(2012-08) Briley, Daniel Andrew; Tucker-Drob, Elliot Max; Buss, David M.
A plethora of personality constructs have been proposed, and associated measures developed, to capture behavioral tendencies relevant to academic achievement. For example, individual differences in aspects of motivation, curiosity, studying behaviors and evaluations of the importance of school have been linked with achievement. However, there is little understanding of whether and how different achievement-relevant personality measures (APMs) relate to one another or to broader dimensions of personality. The current project examined the dimensionality of achievement-relevant personality constructs, their associations with the Big Five personality traits, and associations with academic performance. In Study 1, 214 college students were measured on 36 independent APMs along with a well-established, measure of the Big Five traits. Factor analytic results supported the convergent and discriminant validity of five latent dimensions: performance and mastery approaches to learning, self-doubt, effort, and hungry mind. Each factor and the individual scales that composed the factors possessed a distinctive pattern of associations with the Big Five. Conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience had the most consistent associations with APMs. Based on the results of the first study, we next constructed a more efficient scale of APMs – the Multidimensional Achievement-Relevant Personality Scale (MAPS). In Study 2, we replicated the factor structure of the MAPS and its associations with the Big Five in a sample of 359 individuals. Additionally, we validated the MAPS with four indicators of academic performance. Although the factors assessed by the MAPS overlap somewhat with general indicators of personality, there was some evidence of incremental prediction of achievement.
Actigraphy Monitoring of Sleep Disturbance and Physical Activity in Adults with Depressive Symptoms
(2018-11-15) Gandy, Laura
Actigraphy Monitoring of Sleep Disturbance and Translations to Traumatic Brain Injury
(2018-04-01) Goeke, Esther
Adaptive forgetting with uncontrolled and controlled removal processes
(2020-08-17) Kim, Hyojeong; Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A.; Preston, Alison R.; Joseph, Joseph E.; Banich, Marie T.
Memory is essential to guide our behavior by which goal-relevant information is accessed in an accurate and timely manner. One of the fundamental cognitive abilities to accomplish such function is to remove unnecessary information from long-term memory and outdated thoughts from working memory. Removing information facilitates information processing in service of the goal-directed behavior by reducing the potential interruption from the irrelevant information and thus increasing cognitive capacity. The research in this dissertation focuses on the removal of information as adaptive memory operations in both unintentional (“bottom-up” implicit learning) and controlled processes (“top-down” cognitive control). To identify the neural mechanisms of removal and link these to specific behavioral outcomes, my approach relies on using functional MRI (fMRI) with multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA). Experiment 1 demonstrated how the automatic learning that generates memory-based predictability alters long-term retention of the memory. While unreliable predictions, which violated real outcome, were more likely forgotten, more generic predictions that matched the outcome in an abstract level were retained. Experiment 2 tested neural consequences in different removal methods that recruit top-down cognitive control in working memory. The different removal operations employed distinct neural systems and removed the representation of item being removed from working memory with different speeds as well as with different impacts on memory capacity. Building upon Experiment 2, Experiment 3 examined representational changes during these removal operations in the ventral visual cortex and hippocampus. While sensory representations reflected different attentional states depending on removal operations, hippocampal representations reflected top-down inhibitory regulation states. The findings also suggest that these removal operations lead to qualitative alterations of representation, which implies different long-term memory forgetting. As a whole, the research in this dissertation is seeking to improve our understanding of memory removal in two key ways: (1) define the role of implicit processes in prediction-based forgetting from LTM, and (2) precisely characterize the control and consequences for multiple operations of removing information from working memory.
Adaptive significance of Pavlovian conditioning on reproductive behavior and fertility in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)
(2006-05) Mahometa, Michael Jason; Domjan, Michael, 1947-
The adaptive significance of Pavlovian conditioning has been an established idea within the learning literature. Pavlov himself indicated the potential for associative learning's role as an adaptive mechanism. As investigations into Pavlovian conditioning moved into the laboratory, the idea of adaptive significance was lost. The current body of work seeks to re-establish the adaptive importance of Pavlovian conditioning by investigating changes in the reproductive behavior of Japanese quail. Experiment 1 was a preliminary exploration of the relationship between the reproductive behaviors of the male and female Japanese quail, and fertility rates. Fertility rates were highly correlated with female immobility and male copulatory efficiency--a measure of copulatory behavior quality for males. Also, female immobility was highly correlated with male copulatory efficiency. In Experiment 2, changes in reproductive behavior and fertility due to Pavlovian conditioning were examined. The results indicated that Pavlovian conditioning altered the fertility rates for subjects if both partners of the copulatory pair were signaled. The Pavlovian conditioning procedure was refined for Experiment 3, which also showed changes in fertility rates as well as male copulatory efficiency. These experiments served to establish that Pavlovian conditioning can increase copulatory behavior and fertility when both partners of the copulatory pair are signaled. Experiments 4 - 6 investigated how factors related to the Conditioned Stimulus impact reproductive behavior and fertility rates. Experiment 4 showed that altering the CS-US interval for females did not produce significant differences in behavior or fertility. Experiment 5 demonstrated that context could be a viable CS in the Pavlovian conditioning of behavior and fertility. Experiment 6 showed that a naturalistic cue did not significantly alter either behavior or fertility over an arbitrary cue. In Experiment 7, visual access as an Unconditioned Stimulus in the Pavlovian conditioning of reproductive behavior was examined. Visual access to a female increased behavior and fertility over a control procedure, but not as much as full copulatory access. The present experiments provide definitive evidence of the adaptive significance of Pavlovian conditioning through changes in reproductive behavior and fertility. The relevance of the findings to Pavlovian conditioning in other behavior systems is discussed.
Adherence to an oral health regimen among head and neck cancer patients : the roles of doctor-patient communication, illness perceptions, and dispositional coping
(2006-12) Moerkbak, Marie Louise; Holahan, Charles J.
Treatment of head and neck cancer with radiation therapy is associated with adverse side effects to the oral cavity and surrounding areas. These complications include mucositis, mucosal fibrosis and atrophy, salivary gland dysfunction, increased risk of dental caries, increased susceptibility to infections, tissue necrosis, taste dysfunction, and muscular and/or cutaneous fibrosis. The often permanent nature of the radiation-induced damage necessitates the maintenance of a strict oral care program, involving frequent flossing and brushing in addition to daily fluoride applications, for the rest of the patient's life. An additional concern among patients with head and neck cancer is the use of tobacco and alcohol. Both are known risk factors in the development of head and neck cancers and failure to abstain from either after diagnosis increases the risk for relapse and development of secondary cancers. The present study was a longitudinal investigation of several factors that may influence patients' consistency in following their prescribed oral care program and abstaining from alcohol and tobacco use, including, but not limited to, patient satisfaction with the doctor-patient communication, patient coping, and patient illness perceptions. The study examined an integrative model seeking to explain patient adherence to the oral care regimen as well as tobacco and alcohol use. While results were inconclusive with respect to the model, there were several interesting findings, which were consistent with previous literature examining doctor-patient communication and illness perceptions among other cancer populations. Results from this study suggested that both satisfaction with doctor-patient communication and coping play an important role in forming patients’ illness perceptions. Furthermore beliefs about the severity of oral complications emerged as a predictor of oral care at follow-up.